Backup Camera Review - Way, Way, Way Overpriced Coolness

Just wanted to share my recent experience of my backup camera purchase. I will not disclose the name of the company that sells the mount or kit; however, you will recognize it. I consider this product be "way overpriced coolness". The camera and mount sits below your bumper and just above your receiver hitch.

I purchased this kit to integrate into my aftermarket navigation system for a backup camera option.

Upon receiving the kit, the mount had several nicks in the powder coating and the hole that was cut for the camera assembly was jagged, sharp and should have been deburred and smoothed before mounting the camera assembly.

Upon research, I Google'd the sticker on the camera and discovered that the camera is a standard Boyo VTX100, which is being sold by the "kit company" as their "premium short camera".

I also chose the least expensive shipping method of USPS Priority Mail, which costs $17.30. The camera and mount arrived in a Priority Mail flat rate box, which I think is less than $10.00 at the Post Office.

So, to save a lot of money and have the same exact thing I bought for almost $300.00, you can buy the parts for the following:

The Online "Kit company" Price: $289.00 (Mount and Camera). In essence, I could have saved $125.00 buying the mount from the "kit company" and then the camera online and drilled/cut a jagged hole myself.

I ended up having to debur the hole, sand and prime the mount (and eventually paint) as I'm sure it would have rusted in time and had rust streaks down the mount onto my hitch.

So do yourself a favor and take this into consideration before purchasing this "kit".

Pics, please note that I lightly sanded this mount before I took the pictures; however, you can see how jagged the hole was:

The camera has excellent ratings and is one of the best backup camera's out there. I wished I would have known which camera was part of the "kit", I would have bought it myself and bought *only* the mount from the "kit company".

I have not mounted it yet as the primer on the mount still hasn't cured, then off to wet sanding and paint. I also ordered some 1/8" split loom to protect the cable as it will be run along the frame rail.

It is a CCD camera, not one of the CMOS camera's which have terrible video. Boyo makes great camera's. If you are going this route, buy just the mount and find the camera online and save some $$$. You can drill the hole with a uni-bit or a holesaw.

I guess that I was just mad that a company would grossly overcharge camera when it is readily available for a fraction of what they are charging for it. Hell, I even asked about discounts and there were none to he had.

The mount is just sheet metal, which has been folded/pressed on a brake. For the money I expected more, but I guess, it saves me from having to fabricate something myself. The camera itself it a great camera; however, the price of the camera from them is almost 1.5 times the cost you can buy the camera yourself.

All the nicks in the power coating I presume is when he secured it a vise to cut out the hole for the camera. To be honest, the hole should be stamped out instead of cut out with a holesaw or unibit.

What you see is what you get for almost $300.00, plus being overcharged for shipping.

I'd recommend the mount, just to save time, cutting the hole yourself for your own camera application or buying the Boyo VTK100 camera which he is using.

I looked at some of his other products and they are not his, they are from other vendors as well and charging a lot more for them as well.

This is my first post to this forum. As the owner of CUBBYCAM, I'd like to comment on Combat Vet's posting.

-CUBBYCAM is a small company that doesn't have the luxury of huge advertising budgets to sell based on volume. Because of this, engineering charges, etc have to be spread out over smaller volumes hence the price goes up per piece.

-CUBBYCAM actually stocks most of the products it carries. No drop-shipping here. Stock costs money.

-CUBBYCAM has always placed focus on customer care and satisfaction. That takes a lot of time and effort. Time costs money. Someone can always sell something for cheaper, but not everyone takes care of their customers- especially like CUBBYCAM. Combat Vet knows this first hand. Not only did he buy the initial $289.00 kit with camera, etc. But he came back later and bought just the mount and asked me to drill the hole for him. I happily did so without any additional charges, etc.

-In regards to the "poor drilling" and lack of paint on the newly drilled hole, I'd like to point out that paint isn't needed as the mount is made from stainless steel and will not rust. (Our old Rev2 mount was mild steel and we used to paint the hole to prevent rust.) However, the mount that Combat Vet was the latest Rev 3 version made from stainless. There was no upcharge for the stainless option even though it cost more to make.

-Regarding the vice marks, etc. Because stainless is more difficult to drill into, more force is exerted on the jig holding the mount while drilling. All marks on the mount are hidden during install and no marks are visible after installation.

CUBBYCAM has been selling backup camera systems since 2003 and have seen other companies come and go. We've been around and will continue to be around. I understand and can appreciate that someone wants the best product for the least money. I get it. However, you have to remember that it takes time to find the best camera, test it, make sure the manufacturer stands behind their warranty and ensuring the customer is happy. I have evaluated over 30 cameras before choosing units I have chosen to carry. This takes time to do.

So, if you value superior customer service and know that someone has "got your back" if something happens to your cam, even out of warranty, then CUBBYCAM is the best choice. Will that online vendor who drop ships to your door and doesn't stock a thing really deal with the RMA procedures and cross-ship so you aren't without a camera for months? I think not.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions. Thanks for your time.